Nothing Can Last Forever
by Chibi Shadow Chaser
Summary: A sorceress wreaks havoc on the world and it may be a battle the Ronins will not win.
1. Default Chapter Title

RW: Nothing Can Last Forever

Chapter 1

Note: This is after OAV 3 and does not have a happy ending. Mecha familiarity is recommended.

RONIN WARRIORS DO NOT BELONG TO ME. THEY BELONG TO NAGOYA AND SUNRISE INC.

***

__

When we got our armor the first time, we didn't know what we were doing.

We were making sacrifices along the way,

But we didn't know that. When Talpa invaded our world,

It was a battle and a war that we would never forget.

Close friends of ours died in that epic battle and we remember them to this day.

But we only thought that the battles could only be effective on us, not the real world.

It was then when the second time Talpa came back, he breached the shield and almost took over the real world.

But as everyone says, we defeated Talpa.

We never knew that we were this close to losing the city.

This close.

Little did we know that after the battle against Talpa, the forces of evil would touch the real world again.

This time, there is no mercy,

No almost,

No hope,

For every life on this planet will be affected by the darkness.

Because our time of passing is near,

And there is no one to stop it once we enter the event horizon.

***

"My lord," Sorceress Phoenix said in to the darkness, "Tolbleto Dimension has been eliminated."

"Good, my young apprentice," an icy voice said to her in the echoing room. "I have an urgent mission for you. One that cannot be delayed." A bright portal opened up and the red-gold-haired sorceress could see a blue-green-white world surrounded by the blanket of dark, unforgiving space.

"But, my lord, I've already destroyed the Earth Dimension!" she exclaimed, her blue-green eyes flashing in surprise.

"This is a new Earth Dimension that rose up after the last one was destroyed," the voice told her. "They have five protectors of the planet, unlike the other dimension that had many."

"Do these five protectors use the earthen machines called Mecha?" she asked.

"No, these are five warriors that use special mystical armors, much like magic. They are called Ronin Warriors," the voice said.

"I understand my lord; I will hunt them down and destroy them, then destroy their world," Sorceress Phoenix cut in, knowing the basic objectives.

"Yes, but beware, this world is not easy to conquer," the voice cautioned.

"I will take caution, but if things down there are rough, can I count on you to help me?" she asked.

"Yes, I will help you to the fullest of my extent, my apprentice."

"Thank you," she bowed and flashed out.

***

"What was the math homework last night?" Kento asked.

"Page 114, examples 1-50 even," Rowen answered.

"Thanks, man, your the greatest," Kento said and flipped opened a book and began working on the problems.

"Just let me eat in peace," Rowen said and took a bite out of his food.

"Has anyone seen Ryo?" Sage asked from across the table.

"Nmmp," Kento said as he continued to eat his lunch while working on his homework. A few minutes later he slammed the book closed and said, "Done!"

"That fast, Kento? It took me an hour and a half to finish all the problems!" Rowen said.

"It's called cheat sheet," Kento said, holding up a paper that wasn't his.

"Hey! That's my homework!" Sage exclaimed. He reached over the table and snatched it away from Kento.

"Lunch is almost over," Rowen told them.

"But I've only eaten half of my lunch!" Kento complained.

"That's what you get for not completing your homework," Sage said.

"Where is Ryo?" Rowen wondered out loud.

"I don't know, but I'm getting out of here before the Freshmen start showing up around the halls," Sage said.

"Okay, see you after school!" Rowen said. They gathered up their books and went their separate ways.

***

"Hi, I'm the exchange student from Switzerland," Pyrene Cavanaugh said to a black-haired-blue-eyed-eighteen-year-old.

"Oh, so you're the exchange student that the principal said for me to give a tour," the eighteen-year-old said.

"What's your name?" Pyrene asked.

"Oh, I'm Ryo Sanada," the eighteen-year-old told her. "What's yours?"

"I'm Pyrene Cavanaugh," Pyrene said. Mentally she added, _also known as Sorceress Phoenix, your worst nightmare in a few days, give or take_.

"All right, let's go this way," he started to walk towards the gym with Pyrene following him.

***

"Mia, are you ready?" Cye asked at the doorway to Mia's lecture room in the college.

"Almost, just have to file the papers from last class's lecture," she said. She grabbed some papers off of her desk and put them in a file cabinet. "Okay, lets get going," she said.

"So how was your day?" Cye asked as they walked quickly to the front entrance.

"Not really good. I had the whole lecture planned out but some one took some parts of the plan away. How was yours?" she said.

"Same as always," Cye replied.

"That bad, huh?"

"Not really. I just nearly fell asleep during one of the biology lectures. The professor kept droning on and on about the aspects and facts of a starfish," Cye told her.

Mia laughed. "Hey! There they are!" she pointed to four boys standing around the front entrance of the university.

"Hey Kento!" Cye shouted. They turned around and waved at the two friends coming down the steps.

"How was your day?" Mia asked them when they got to where the group was.

"We got a new exchange student from Switzerland," Ryo said.

"What's his name?" Cye asked.

"_Her_ name is Pyrene Cavanaugh," Kento said.

"Oh. Who is hosting her?" Mia asked.

"She didn't tell me when I took her on a tour. She seemed very distant," Ryo said.

"Hmm, maybe I could talk to her about the mythology and ancient archives of Switzerland," Mia said. They started to walk towards their homes, with the exception of Cye who was living in the dorm.

***

"My lord, I have been sent to a city called Tokyo, in a country called Japan. It seems that this new Earth Dimension has no large form of government uniting them," she said into the portal. She was in a forest where she hid and carried out her plans. The real Pyrene Cavanaugh was tied to a tree with the sharp end of a really large icicle protruding through her midsection.

"I told you it was different. What else have you found out?" her master asked.

"There are lots of governments and leaders in this dimension and they also have something called a United Nations. Perhaps they are trying to rebuild the old Earth Dimension," she told her master.

"Destroy the main vital cities to these nations and chaos will ensue. Then you can start eliminating the world."

"My lord, may I have permission to destroy this city of Tokyo first because the humans there are very detestable to me. They are all good and friendly it makes me incredibly sick!" she cried out.

"Yes, you have my permission, but I advise you. Once you destroy the city, all of this Dimension will be alerted to the destruction. They will send in whatever they have if you are too be seen, so take caution," the master said.

"Yes, my lord, thank you," she replied and closed the portal and began to make plans. She waltzed over to the lifeless body tied to the tree and said, "Well now, since you are victim number one, Tokyo is victim number two and your country of Switzerland will be victim of number three." She grinned, her plan already formulating on its own.

***

"Class, I have just received news from an unknown source about an exchange student," Instructor Yamaguchi said to her class. The door to the classroom opened and four police officers walked in. The class burst into a whispered frenzy. The only exchange student they had was Pyrene.

In that instant when the police entered the classroom which housed Instructor Yamaguchi, Pyrene and the class, Pyrene knew her cover had been blown. Immediately, her red-gold hair flared up and her eyes became black orbs. The students screamed out in terror and scattered away from her.

"Who are you, really?" Instructor Yamaguchi said.

"You could say that I'm a terrorist, bomber, insane psycho, or the four horsemen of apocalypse, but I'm none of those," she said, her sorceress voice taking over. "I'm a sorceress sent by my master to destroy all living things!" Phoenix said.

"Ma'am, calm down," one of the officers approached her. She built up an energy surge and threw the blue surge at the officer, killing him instantly. His dead body impacted against the wall and went through it. It sailed through the sky, leaving a massive trail of blood on the pavement below. She then killed the other three officers, their bodies twitching and breaking off into separate pieces.

"Make a call over the intercom and have everyone gathered in the gym or else your students die," she threatened. To go with that threat, she built up a massive energy plasma in her hands and aimed at a group of students huddled behind a bookcase.

"A…att…attention please!" the instructor nervously said over the intercom which was located in her room, "would everyone please report to the gym for a special announcement!"

"Very good, you will last a few more minutes. But should you and your students tell anyone about my little demonstration, you will be dead, like the officers," Phoenix purred. "Now go to the gym like you said over the intercom." The students and instructor filled out into the halls and into the flooded crowd surging to the gym.

***

This doesn't feel right," Ryo thought as he moved with the crowd to the gym. He spotted Sage and Rowen in the crowd and fought to move up and join them.

"Sage, Rowen," he called out.

"What, Ryo," Sage said without turning his head back.

"This doesn't feel right," Ryo said.

"Yeah, my kanji isn't glowing or am I getting any warning hunches," Rowen said.

"Where's Kento?" Ryo asked.

"He has gym this period so he's already there," Sage told him.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Ryo wondered out loud. The continued along with the surge of people until the entered the massive gym. When all the students were in the gym, the doors were shut on their own and locked.

"Welcome to Japan! Glad you can join us today!" a voice cried out. A spotlight was centered on the voice. "Will you be staying long?" Phoenix asked gleefully, "no, I think not."

"Just who the hell do you think you are?!" a voice cried out in the midst of silence.

"Good question. Who am I? Well, you can call me Pyrene Cavanaugh, but then, you'll be addressing to the dead one, so you can also call me Sorceress Phoenix," she laughed.

"Sorceress my ass!" the same student cried out.

"Well now, I see you need a little convincing. So, Instructor Yamaguchi, your precious life is up!" she said. She summoned a ball of energy and threw it at the instructor. The instructor was immediately turned to dust. There was also generalized screams everywhere then complete silence as Phoenix killed the faculty one by one, leaving them vaporized and shoes smoking.

When she had completed her rampage she asked, "Any last comments before total annihilation?"

"Yeah, go to hell!" a voice cried out. And four boys in sub-armor with the colors of red, green, orange, and dark blue leaped over the students and tackled the sorceress.

"I've already been there. And who might you be?" she asked, not worried about the four boys advancing to attack her.

"Oh, my God! They're the Ronin Warriors!" a student cried out.

"It was them all along!" another said.

"My Sagey-poo is a Ronin!" one of the freshmen girls cried.

"Yours?! He's mine!" a senior girl said.

"So, you are the defenders of the world," Phoenix observed, "but there are only four of you whereas there should be five of you." She narrowed her blue-green eyes and said, "Where is the other?"

There was a blinding flash emitting from the Ronins as they summoned their armors.

"Armor of Halo!"

"Armor of Hardrock!"

"Armor of Strata!"

"Armor of Wildfire!"

The flash lasted less than one second and the four Ronins were in their full armors. Phoenix smiled and threw four large balls of plasma magic all over the gym. She wanted to test out the power of her adversaries, knowing that they wouldn't let any harm come to the other humans. Just as she had predicted, the Ronins each went after a ball of plasma and intercepted it. Each was thrown back to the hard floor, making an impact. The students crowded around each of the Ronins, wondering and at awe, if they were all right.

__

Let your armor go, Ryo communicated to them, via the psychic link they all had within their armors, _let her think she has injured us enough_.

Sage willed his armor off, including his sub-armor. He was left in his school uniform, and crashed to the floor. As he skidded backwards, the wooden floor, which made an impact, let dozens of splintered wood rush up, stabbing into his back, drawing blood. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth against the immense pain.

"Sage are you all right?" one of the students asked. Sage knew that there were lots of people crowded around him. _Go away, idiots. You'll get killed if you stay with me. Go away_! he thought.

"I can see through your deceptions, Ronins. Your tricks will not fool me, so ta ta!" Phoenix said and levitated/flew to the ceiling and made a hole in it and shot to the sky. Rowen called back his armor and went after her. The others followed suit. They also heard exclamations and cheers from the students gathered.

"Where's the sorceress, Rowen?" Ryo called out when they got to the sky, encased in their little floating bubbles.

"Don't know. She just disappeared when I got here," Rowen said. He was the only one, since getting their new armors that didn't need a bubble to stay afloat, since his element was the sky.

"Looking for me?" a voice called out. Phoenix materialized in front of the gathered Ronins and flames emitted from her fingertips and spiraled towards them. They cleared out, except for Ryo, who was going to absorb the fire. Instead of absorbing it, the fire-magic ate away at Ryo's sleek armor. Ryo screamed as the acidic magic chewed towards his skin. He immediately flew out of harm's way. There were holes where patches of skin were missing as well as the armor.

"Fools!" Phoenix shouted. "You underestimate me and now your time has come!" The elements of the earth lanced out of her fingertips, intended for the Ronins. They tried their best to dodge and weave the deadly attacks but some hit their armors and began to eat away.

Suddenly there was a large explosion beneath them, as they saw their high school blow up. The force of the explosion sent them scattering all over the sky.

"NNNNOOOOO!" Sage cried as they felt the death of their school and classmates disintegrate under the violent onslaught. All their friends, gone, forever, and not a single chance for them to get away and save themselves.

"DAMN! You son of a… no, I take that back! You never had a mother. You were born a detestable-tube-testing-raised-inhuman thing!" Ryo shouted at her. He placed both swords end to end and yelled, "ARMOR OF WILDFIRE! FLARE UP NOW!" The bright energy surged towards the unprotected back of the sorceress, who was watching her created explosion. The energy sure-kill suddenly impacted a bluish sphereish shield and fanned out.

"Such petty attacks, Ronins. It's a wonder why my master cautioned me about your dimension," Phoenix said, letting a grin slip in. "Oh well, one down, millions more to go." She fired another plasma energy at the university, then flashed out.

"MIA!" Ryo cried, as the ball of energy flew towards the university. Using all his will, he raced across the sky with the other Ronins as they tried to catch up with the weapon of destruction. But it was too late. The energy impacted, creating a gigantic explosion. The explosion caused a cloud to form up into a mushroom with the condensed energy shooting upwards. The Ronins shielded their eyes against the bright light generated by the explosion and felt the death of many people.

"CYE! MIA!" Kento cried.

"That murderous bitch will pay!" Sage angrily said.

***

Cye felt an odd buzz inside of his head. He dismissed it as a headache from studying too much for the tests. The buzzing sound continued to grow louder and louder as the minutes passed. Finally Cye couldn't take it anymore and said, "Professor Hadaki?"

"Yes, Mr. Mouri?" the professor replied.

"Permission to be excused for a few minutes of fresh air?"

"Granted but come back quickly," he replied.

Cye burst out of the lecture hall and took a deep breath. The buzzing sound just only increased bit by bit. _What's going on_? he thought.

Suddenly, he felt his kanji burning like a hot coal on skin. He clutched his head in pain and fell to his knees. Squeezing his eyes shut and trying to suppress the pain lancing everywhere through him, he tried to figure out what had happen. When the pain lessened, Cye opened his eyes and took a look down the long hallway and out the window. He saw in the distance a large explosion and then the ground shook. He also saw a bright white light coming strait towards him.

***

"CYE! MIA! Where are you?!" Ryo shouted as they stumbled on the remains of the beautiful university. There was not one wall left standing and part of the foundation had been ripped off. The rubble around them was piled incredible high and there were pieces of bodies hanging around. They also saw dead bodies of students, teachers, instructors, and professors lying strewn about, as if some giant had picked up the earth and flipped it. Some had faces or other parts of their body ripped off and some were still bleeding.

"MIA!" Sage cried out.

"CYE! WHERE ARE YOU?" Rowen also said. They flipped some rocks away, which revealed more dead bodies and went in further.

Ryo flipped over a large slab of rock and immediately screamed, "NNNNNNOOOOOOO!"

The other Ronins alerted by Ryo's scream hurried over to see what was wrong. What they saw under the slab of rock was something they never wanted to see again.

Half of Mia's face was blown away and her blood created a puddle around her. She was also missing some parts of her body. The thing that most frightened them was the expression that Mia carried with her to her death. Her right eye was glazed, but wide with fear and her mouth was opened as if she was screaming at her last moments before her end.

The ground shook again violently again with the onslaught of attacks and explosions from the sorceress that was destroying the whole city, but Ryo didn't care. He hung his head down and with all of his strength, threw the slab across the sky. The slab of concrete impacted some many yards away, creating a giant dust cloud. He then knelt down next to the remains of what was once the person that he care most about and gently closed her eye and mouth. Ryo then started to shake violently and his tears came down quietly. The other Ronins didn't make a move to comfort him, but they knew he needed time alone.

Ryo stopped crying in a few minutes and slowly got up. He turned and faced his friends whose faces showed scores of cuts and bruises mixed with blood and tears. He knew that he didn't look good either but now wasn't the time to clean up.

Ryo took a deep breath and said in a deadly whisper, "From now until the end, we give her no mercy."

***

"The destruction of the first city is complete, my lord," Phoenix said into a communication portal. She was back in her hiding place in a forest. It had only taken her minutes to completely decimate the whole city of Tokyo.

"Did the other humans that reside here see you, my young sorceress?" her master, asked.

"No, they did not, but I'm sure they will respond very quickly. I also found the protectors of the dimension, but there were only four of them," she said.

"The fifth one was in the university that you destroyed, so he could be dead, but take caution because the fifth one may yet be alive," her master once again cautioned her.

"Yes, my lord, I understand. What target is next?" she asked.

"All the major cities of the world." The portal warped into a map of the world with red dots pinpointing the major cities of the world. "With these gone, as I said before, chaos will ensue and you then can take your leisurely time. The Ronin Warriors have felt just a bit of your power, yes?" the master said.

"Yes, and they are pathetic weaklings. They are no match for my full power!" she cried.

"Then you can finish them off at your leisure. Should you need help, I will be there."

"Thank you, my lord. This will be better than destroying the other dimensions that stand no chance. It's like a challenge to me, but one that the defenders of the dimension will not survive," she laughed.

***

Ryo carried Mia to a spot where there wasn't a lot of debris and set her gently down. Then, after finding a torn cloth, he placed it over her mangled head, so no one else saw the gore. He then went back to the remains of the university, where the others were, to see if they could find Cye. No one said a word as they lifted, flipped, and shuffled through the concrete and rocks.

Ryo didn't have any more tears left, whereas the others were silently mourning and letting their tears stream down. His heart had become a cold, diamond hard lump after seeing Mia. He could no longer feel the pain when he lifted the rocks, no longer had the person that he cared most of, no longer had a purpose in life other than to destroy the sorceress. Yes, that was his mission now.

"I think I've found him!" Rowen cried from Ryo's far left. They scrambled from where they were looking and went to where Rowen was.

"Help, I need help," Cye's barely audible voice came through a giant rock pile.

"Cye, can you move your legs?" Sage asked.

"No," he answered.

"Okay, we're going to lift this rock up and Kento will pull you out, got it," Ryo said.

"One…two…THREE!" Sage said. He, Ryo, and Rowen lifted the rock and Kento reached under and dragged Cye out. Cye screamed at the pain. The rock was dropped after he had been dragged out. He was in his sub-armor but it was pretty mangled and some of it was ripped off, along with his clothes and skin, leaving bloody patches.

"He's got some broken bones and probably some internal bleeding," Sage gave the prognosis after he checked his friend. "Stay in your sub-armor, it will hold as a cast to some of your broken bones."

"Is the bleeding bad?" Kento asked.

"I'm not sure," Sage answered. His armor began to glow green as he tried to heal Cye's injuries.

Some aircraft flew over the decimated city, causing the Ronins to look up. "Well, at least some of the survivors will have hope, if we find them," Rowen said.

Ryo laughed bitterly, "What hope _is_ there? I mean, come on, we're fighting a damn near impossible enemy with incredibly strong powers that we are almost no match for. So how can you say we have hope when the destruction of a city takes place in less than five minutes and we can't stop it?!"

"Nothing's impossible Ryo," Sage said, his armor still pulsating with the healing power, "the world needs us. We _are_ their last hope."

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Special thanks to Onyx who gave me her opinions on this chapter and to Shadow Chaser for telling me to send it to Onyx for her opinions and nagging me about the grammar. Thanks guys, without your opinions, this wouldn't have been an incredibly good chapter! Okay, now that that's over, I'm sorry if I was a little too sadistic, but the idea that nothing can survive forever just popped into my head, which is also the title. Flame me if you want but flames with swears go automatically to the trash bin. My e-mail is [x_winglover@hotmail.com][1]

Chibi Shadow Chaser 

   [1]: mailto:x_winglover@hotmail.com



	2. Default Chapter Title

RW: Nothing Can Last Forever

Chapter 2

Note: Thanks to everyone that gave me the comments on my first chapter!

RONIN WARRIORS DO NOT BELONG TO ME. THEY BELONG TO NAGOYA AND SUNRISE INC.

Cye awoke to pain. Not intense pain, just a dull, throbbing, aching pain. "Where am I?" he asked.

"Stay still," Sage commanded. "You had internal bleeding and lots of broken bones. I've healed you to the max of my power, but you still have some fractures."

"I don't remember anything," Cye said, his eyes still unfocused.

"We pulled you out of the rubble and that's when you fainted," Kento said.

"Is Mia alright?" Cye asked.

Ryo gave his friend a downcast glance and didn't say a word, but even with blurry eyes, Cye knew the inevitable had happened.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Do you think you're strong enough to stand?" Rowen asked, trying to change the subject.

"Probably," he answered.

"Let's get going, we should start finding some survivors," Ryo gruffly said. Everyone powered down to sub-armor mode and followed their leader. Kento supported Cye as they made their way through the wreckage.

***

"Ah, Switzerland, home of the Alps and chocolate," Phoenix said as she hovered above a small mountain side town covered in snow. "But now, it's home to snow-covered cities!"

She had sent a very large avalanche at the small town she was hovering above, and whoever had escaped, she killed by blue energy balls like a target practice. She took out a piece of papyrus that was rolled up tightly. Untying the thong that was holding it, she quickly scanned the words written there.

__

Next target, Geneva, smiled to her self and rolled up the paper.

***

"But officer, we aren't the ones that destroyed the city!" Rowen protested to the lady officer that was part of the rescue mission. There were many aircraft sent from nations all over the world that landed in a fairly wide space where most of the decimated city's debris had not been thrown.

"Yeah, and I'm Queen Elizabeth the First!" the officer spat them a harsh glare.

"Major O'Brien, please bring these five boys to a secure holding cell," she spoke to a younger officer.

"Yes, ma'am," the officer signaled for troops to take the Ronins away.

"Then how do you explain the injuries that we've sustained?" Sage asked, planting his feet firmly to the ground so he didn't budge.

"What do you think, boy," the lady officer scoffed, "you injured yourselves so that it would think that you guys weren't responsible for this mess!"

"No! We are the protectors of the city!" Ryo said, his anger and frustration building up.

"Look, you may think you are the Ronin Warriors or a bunch of super heroes, but they would've protected this city from this!" she wrung her hands up, gesturing to the devastated city.

"Ma'am," Ryo said, trying to calm his voice down, "you are looking at the Ronin Warriors."

Just then, a communicator crackled to life at one of the monitoring stations. "Geneva has been obliterated!" was all it said before it faded into static.

"What happened?"

"Blown into what Tokyo is like then covered in a giant avalanche that appeared out of no where," an officer said, haltingly as he received the information.

"You have to believe us!" Rowen cried out, "We're the only ones who can stop the destruction!"

"Release them!" the lady officer ordered crisply, after giving them a thought. Then she walked straight to Ryo, pressing her face until her nose was mere centimeters from Ryo's nose. She stared straight into his tiger-blue eyes and said, "What the hell are we dealing with, here?"

"Something that is damn near impossible to comprehend."

***

"General Torrington?" an officer asked the lady officer that had ordered the detention of the Ronins and then released them.

"Yes, what is it?" she asked from a station. The Ronins, minus Cye who was in the infirmary, and Sage who went in the infirmary to help heal the survivors, were at a table setting up plans.

"New York City, Los Angles, Denver, and San Francisco are gone," the officer sullenly said.

"Any survivors?" she asked.

"They've reported none so far," the officer said.

"Damn! The UN destroyed along with some of the world leaders! Damn, this shit cannot be happening!" General Torrington cursed.

"Ma'am," a man with a thick British accent from one of the monitor stations said, "we've just lost the president of the United States."

***

"Cye…" a voice whispered.

"Who's there?" the bearer of the Armor of Torrent snapped opened his eyes into complete darkness.

"Cye…come here…" the voice said, more insistent this time.

"Where? Where are you? Who are you?" he asked.

"Come here…" the voice had a tinge of sadness in it.

"I don't know where you want me to go," Cye said, not trusting what was being said.

"Come here…I need your help…" the voice sounded a bit sad, but more melodic.

"Dammit, tell me who you are!" Cye shouted into the void.

"In due time my bearer of Torrent," the voice said.

"How'd you know?!" Cye whirled around, feeling his cool sub-armor healing from the sustained wounds.

"I need your help…" the voice continued with the sad melody.

"You're healing my armor, how do you need help then?" he asked.

Cye flinched as a cold, soft hand was placed on his forehead. Out of the darkness came two blue-green eyes that bore into his soul and chilled him down to his nerves.

Cye awoke, snapping his eyes open. He immediately squinted his eyes to avoid the harsh glare of a light that was threatening to blind him.

"Finally, you're awake!" a voice filled with relief said.

"Who's there?" Cye asked, licking his lips and tasting dried blood all over his mouth.

"It's just me, Sage. You were coughing up blood before and fainted," Sage told him.

"Where are we? Where are the others?" he asked.

"We're in a military base set up near Tokyo. The others are trying to convince the head honcho out there that we aren't the people that destroyed the city," the bearer of Halo said.

Cye tried to sit up, but was sort of jelly-like, so slumped back on to the cot. "Any luck?" he asked.

"Not that I know of," Sage answered.

"Am I okay, or do I still have broken bones?" he asked, moving his joints around to emphasize his meaning.

"Yes, you're free to go, but take it easy and keep your sub-armor on," Sage looked directly at him.

Cye saw remorse flicker in his friend's eyes for a brief second then it flashed away. _What's the matter_? he thought silently to himself. Then he got up from the cot cautiously and stood up, holding to the side of the cot. He got a good look around the temporary infirmary and saw lots of people swathed in bandages and covered in blood and cuts. Lots of the survivors were moaning and groaning and Sage moved off to tend to one of the wounded. Cye slowly walked out on jelly legs.

Sage looked out of the corner of his eyes at the retreating form of his friend and a single tear rolled down his cheek. _You are also dying_, he thought, _I can't heal you enough. I can only sustain your life before my power goes out, then you are on your own. Sorry I couldn't tell you…_

***

"Did I miss anything?" Cye asked as he slowly went over towards the group gathered around a planning table.

"Hey, man, you're alive!" Kento cried and rushed up to his best friend to give him a bear hug.

"Okay, easy…I'm still weak," Cye said, the air in him leaving quickly, "let me go!"

"Ah, so this is the bearer of the Armor of Torrent," General Torrington said, looking up from where she was bent down, looking at maps and layouts.

"Cye Mouri, pleased to meet you…uh…" Cye introduced himself.

"General Torrington," the lady officer said.

"So what's been said and done while I was napping?" Cye joked, trying to relieve some tension from his friends.

"Geneva and Bern, Switzerland; New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angles, San Francisco, and Denver, United States; Sydney, Australia; Beijing and Hong Kong, China; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Dublin, Ireland; Paris, France; Moscow, Russia, and just about all the capitals and major cities of the world have been destroyed in the last three hours," General Torrington said.

"We've haven't been able to track the sorceress since the destruction of Tripoli, Libya. It's as if she disappeared into thin air," Rowen informed Cye.

"Most of the leaders of the countries are dead," Ryo said with no emotion in his voice.

"Do you think she'll come back?" Cye asked.

"Oh, she'll come back, and when she does, there is no mercy for her," the leader of the Ronins said. His irises of his eyes held in bondage, tiny flames encircling around, giving Ryo an image of a haunted man, but needful for revenge.

***

"My lord, the destruction in complete!" Sorceress Phoenix cried gleefully into the communications portal.

"Very well done, my young apprentice. I commend you on a good job," her master praised her.

"Thank you," Phoenix said gratefully.

"I sense that you have done something else that you did not receive permission to do so," her master observed her.

"Yes, that is true, but I'm sure it will work towards our advantage," Phoenix said.

"Then tell me what you did," her master inquired.

"The fifth warrior whom you said was in the second building I destroyed, is alive. He is severely injured and does not have much more time. I've decided that as he is dying, I will try to take over his power to help enhance mine so you don't have to lend all you power to me when I finally blow up this dimension," she told her master.

"Wise decision, but tell me, who is this warrior?" her master asked.

"The warrior goes by the name of Cye Mouri and is the bearer of the Armor of Torrent," she gave a malicious grin.

***

"Cye, are you okay?" Kento asked when his friend gave a horrendous cough.

Cye covered his mouth and felt something wet on his hand. He pulled it away quickly and saw on the inside palm of his hand, a dark splotch of crimson color.

"Cye, what's the matter?" Rowen asked. Cye looked up then raised up his hand, palm outwards.

"I'm dying."

"WHAT?!" Kento shouted in disbelief. Heads turned towards Kento but he didn't pay them any attention.

"Yes, it's true," Sage's quiet voice spoke from behind the group, still at the debriefing table.

Kento whipped around, grabbed Sage roughly and started the shake him violently. "Why, Sage? Why couldn't you heal Cye?! WHY COULDN'T YOU DO SOMETHING?!" he shouted in his friend's face. Some of the Ronins flinched at Kento's outburst.

Sage looked down, staring at the ground, feeling the guilt wash over him once again. Then the guilt was replaced by pure anger over his friend's dumbness for not understanding what was going on. "Kento," he spoke in a very controlled voice, "I am sustaining his life right now, so don't you say I haven't done anything because I have."

Kento and the others looked in shock as Sage's sub-armor glowed green. Moments later, Cye's sub-armor was bathed in a green light, even though they weren't touching. A few minutes later, the green glow shrank and disappeared from both of the boys.

"How long does he have?" Ryo asked quietly.

"The rate my power is going, probably three to five days," Sage said.

"Then what happens?" Rowen asked, afraid of the answer.

"I don't know," Sage finally answered. All of them were interrupted by a noise. A light blue sphere rolled into the middle of the table. All heads at the table turned to where Cye was standing, in regular clothes.

"Take care of it, for me," he simply whispered and walked away towards the outside of the camp.

None of them made a move to pick up the light blue orb in the middle of the table.

***

Cye asked an officer near the entrance for pieces of papers and a pen. The officer gave it to him and went out to sit on a slab of rock. Slowly he began to write, each paper addressing each of his friend's name. His expression on his face did not betray the emotions that he felt deep within his heart.

"Cye," a voice said from behind him.

"What Sage?" he said, not turning around from where he sat.

"I'm sorry that I didn't bother to tell you sooner," his friend said and came to sit by Cye.

Cye turned around and faced his friend. "It's all right, I would've figured it out sooner or later."

"What's that in your hand?" Sage asked, trying to quell down the tears that were threatening to rise up and spill over. Cye handed him four papers and he took it. After glancing at them, he looked over at the bearer of Torrent and said, "I understand."

***

"Help me…" the disembodied voice said again.

"What do you want?" Cye asked weakly. He had asked Sage to not sustain him anymore, and his strength was fading fast.

"I need strength…" the voice said.

"I'm dying, what strength do I have to give you even if I was to help you. Hell, I don't even know who you are!" Cye said.

"You hold the power of the Torrent. It is the one that is causing you to die," the voice told him.

"Look, I don't think so, so you'll have to find another way," he said.

"The power has chosen me to be the next bearer of Torrent," the voice said.

"Then let me see you," he countered. Out of the darkness came a stream of light a few feet away from him. A person was standing in the middle. She had waist length red-gold hair and blue green eyes.

"I am the next one," she said.

"Who are you?" Cye asked.

"Sorceress Phoenix," the lady said.

He gasped as a lancing pain tore through his mind and throughout his body. He felt the power of Torrent drain through him as it was transferred to the sorceress. Cye felt his kanji burn with incredible amounts of pain and started to convulse. Before he blacked out, he saw the merriment and excitement on Phoenix's face as she greedily took in the power. The blanket of darkness came and Cye wrapped him self in it, taking in the comfort.

Out in the real world, Cye lying on a cot, took his last breath. His light blue orb, which was placed beside him on a makeshift nightstand shattered in to millions of pieces, forming the kanji Trust.

***

"Rise and shine!" Kento shouted as he entered the small tent where Cye slept. He did not stir. Kento walked over to his friend and shook him. He again did not stir. "Yo! Wake up, man!" Kento shouted into Cye's ear. _Funny, he isn't this much of a sound sleeper_," Kento thought.

He looked around the tent to find something he could brain his friend with. Then he spied the kanji, Trust, made from the millions of shards of the broken orb. A thought quickly passed him and Kento stuck a finger on Cye's neck and felt for a pulse.

"NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!" he howled. He backed away quickly, tripping over things and knocking them over as he tried to get away from the tent quickly.

Outside, he stumbled into White Blaze, who was found wandering the city yesterday and brought here. White Blaze looked up at Kento, who had tears streaming down his face and convulsing uncontrollably, and growled his concern. Kento fell to the ground, on his knees and sobbed. White Blaze draped one of his legs around him for comfort.

***

Cye was laid to rest out at sea. General Torrington had specially given permission to the Ronins for them to go on one of the carriers and give their friend a final goodbye.

"We will remember you forever, Cye Mouri, as the last bearer of the Armor of Torrent and friend. Go in peace now," Ryo solemnly said out towards the ocean. The wind from the ocean blew and ruffled his hair as well as others. 

He took out the small vial that contained the shattered shards of the orb and popped open the cork sealing it. Holding it away from him and out to the sea, he poured it out. The shards were carried away to the horizon of the rising sun by the winds. They sparkled in the air as they were carried higher and higher until no one could see them anymore.

The waves lapped gently against the metal hull of the carrier as Ryo turned and faced the assembly of people. "We are now fighting for the world," he said.

***

"Any luck with the tracking?" Rowen asked an officer when they got back to the camp.

"Nope, I think she's still in hiding," the officer said.

"Did you scan all frequencies?" General Torrington asked.

"Yes, but no sign, ma'am."

"Looking for lil' ol' me?" a voice said from above them.

"MURDERER!" Kento screamed at the sorceress who hovered above them. "Armor of Hardrock!" An orange light bathed Kento and his armor formed around him. He threw his weapon to the sorceress, which bounced harmlessly off her shield.

"Puny weapons, such a shame…" Phoenix began.

"Armor of Wildfire!"

"Armor of Halo!"

"Armor of Strata!"

"Oh, how sweet, you dressed up for me when you are about to die," Phoenix purred. Three of the four Ronins charged up to the sky, while General Torrington, Kento and her troops fired their weapons and pillars of rocks at her.

"I need reinforcements!" Torrington shouted into a long-range communicator.

"Oh, I don't think so, General. You see, no one will be coming," Phoenix gloated.

"Shut the hell up, killer. You deserve to die!" Ryo shouted from where he was stationed in the sky. "FLARE UP NOW!"

Rowen summoned a tornado, which wrapped the sizzling energy around, creating a deadly whirlwind. The tornado enhanced sure-kill went straight for the sorceress, who just floated there, smirking.

The sure-kill struck Phoenix and Sage added his sure-kill to it. "THUNDERBOLT CUT!" The air around the sorceress sparkled and fizzled. Suddenly, a blinding light crashed to the ground, creating a giant explosion.

"KENTO! GENERAL TORRINGTON!" Ryo cried.

"So bad that more of your friends died, but that's the casualty of war, I guess," Phoenix came out of the sure-kill cloud, unscathed.

"You killed Mia, Cye, White Blaze, Kento and a whole lot of other people. You don't deserve to live, you deserve to be eliminated!" Ryo screamed then launched at her in frenzy. Sage and Rowen followed up behind, hacking and slashing at her, which she parried with ease.

"You know, when the original dimension of Earth fought, they fought with Mechas," she said.

"Do we give a shit about it?" Rowen said, shooting arrows at her.

"Frankly, I don't care, but it is good to know your history. They were fighting very bravely, just like you. Too bad I don't have the challenge of trying to disable their Mechas," she said.

"You've got a hell of a nerve to come here and destroy our world and get away with it!" Sage said.

"Well, consider it a gift," Phoenix said, enjoying her self with the three Ronins, desperately fighting but not succeeding.

"Up yours!" Ryo said through clenched teeth.

"Ding, ding, a direct quote by the leader of the Special Forces of the other dimension sent to destroy me!" she said with mock surprise. She then pretended to check an imaginary watch and said, "Oh, got an appointment with South America! See you later!" She flashed out.

"Get back here coward!" Ryo shouted into the air, his voice hoarse with the fighting.

"You can call me a coward, but it will be you at the end who will be the coward," Sorceress Phoenix's voice rang through the air. "Just like all the other dimensions that I've destroyed."

***

"KENTO! CAN YOU HEAR ME? ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?" Rowen shouted as the three Ronins came upon the debris.

"Over here!" Kento's voice rang out. They saw an orange-armored hand wave up over a ridge.

"I tried to counter attack the magic with my sure-kill, but it didn't work really well. General Torrington and some others survived, but I don't know if they will live," Kento told them as soon as they arrived.

"Where are they?" Sage asked.

His friend pointed to a blackened tree with no leaves or bark and said, "I left the survivors there. I'm going to try to find more." Sage nodded and hurried over to the place where Kento indicated.

"Are you all right?" Ryo asked.

"Yeah, don't have broken bones, just scratches from the flying debris," Kento said.

"We should find a place away from everybody to plan attacks so nothing like this would ever happen again," Rowen said.

"So you are saying that we should just go hide like cowards and let this world be destroyed," Kento angrily said.

"Well what else can we do, huh?!" Rowen shouted.

"You guys, cut it out, we can't afford to fight. Yes, Rowen is right, we should have no contact with anyone else, but we will not go into hiding," Ryo interjected before the fight broke out.

"Dead, they're all dead," Sage said as he walked towards the group.

"What's that you're holding?" Ryo indicated to the object in Sage's hand.

"General Torrington gave it to me. She said that it was some sort of thing that could help us, or maybe call the other military posts to warn them. Something like that," Sage said.

"Okay, we're not going to have contact with anybody but only through that thing that she gave you. We're on our own for this. I don't want to risk any more innocent lives for this battle," Ryo said.

"Where do we go, then?" Kento asked.

"I don't know, but power down. I don't want to waste any unnecessary energy," Ryo said.

"This is a battle that I do not think we can win," Sage said as green light surrounded him and he powered down.

"You may be right," Rowen said, looking up into the sky, the echoes of death still screaming.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, I was almost crying when I typed this. I did warn you that this was not going to have a happy ending like almost all the other stories. Okay, the exchange people are still at my house and in case you haven't read, I'm **now only** working on Crazy Day and Nothing Can Last Forever. So **any other** stories that I may have posted up on Theria or Fan Fiction is being postponed. I'll accept **flames** and **rants** about my story, but anything with swears is going to the trash bin. E-mail me at [x_winglover@hotmail.com][1]

Chibi Shadow Chaser

P.S. This is dedicated to Onyx and Shadow Chaser, as usual for their comments about how mean and sadistic I am and Shadow Chaser warning me not to watch Carrie 2: The Rage. Heh, heh, Shadow Chaser, you can bonk me on the head if you want… 

   [1]: mailto:x_winglover@hotmail.com



	3. Default Chapter Title

Nothing Can Last Forever

Chapter 3

Note: Okay, the reason for "Mecha familiarity" is because I played the game Shogo: M.A.D. (but did not finish it) and got kind of crazy and sadistic with it. Mecha familiarity **IS NOT RECOMMENDED**, but there will be references to Mechas as "history" of the other Earth Dimension and maybe flashbacks by the villain. Also, thanks to all who contributed their comments about my story.

RONIN WARRIORS DO NOT BELONG TO ME; THEY BELONG TO NAGOYA AND SUNRISE INC.

A crow crackled and circled above the rock formation protruding out of the ground and flew away.

"Oh, great, a crow followed us," Kento cried as he leaned back on a slab of the rock formation. The slabs of stone were arranged in a circular order, with a rough arch located at the four cardinal points. In the middle of the formation, there was a center point of rocks.

"You believe in those superstitions?!" Rowen asked in disbelief.

"The crow can be the sorceress," Kento stated.

"He has a point there," Sage said.

"The sorceress can be standing right here and we'd not know about it," Ryo said. White Blaze looked up from where he laid, uninterested in the conversation. He gave a rumbling sigh, then got up and went towards the center point rocks, towards the thin stream of light that managed to penetrate through the low, cloudy skies.

"England's depressing," Rowen made a random comment.

"'Specially since we're here in Stonehenge," Kento followed up.

"Its a good spot, since there is no other people but us," Sage said.

"It's good for _your_ meditation," Kento spat, still angry at him.

"Any reports, Ryo?" Rowen interjected, tasting tension in the air coming from his two friends.

Ryo shook his head no and let his gaze wander over to where White Blaze was. Something flickered before his eyes. _Whoa, what was that_? he thought to himself, as his eyes became blue slits. Ryo squinted closer at White Blaze and his surrounding area.

"What's the matter, Ryo? It's not like you've never seen White Blaze before," Rowen asked.

"Take a look at him," Ryo said, gesturing to his tiger who was dozing in the presence of the thin stream of light.

The blue-haired teenager stared then shook his head, "Don't see a thing, Ryo. Maybe you should get some sleep, it has been thirty-four hours since you got any sleep."

"I'm telling you some thing is not right," Ryo insisted.

"What's the matter?" Sage asked.

"Take a look at White Blaze and tell me if you see anything unusual," he told Sage.

"Yea, something flickered before my eyes," Sage said after a moment of looking.

"What's going on?" Kento said as he joined the group.

"Why don't you and Rowen take a look," Ryo said.

"At who? White Blaze? He's just a tiger," Kento said.

"Just look," their leader insisted.

"Okay, whatever you say," Kento huffed.

"What the hell is that?!" Rowen exclaimed after glancing at the tiger.

"You saw it too?" Kento verified.

"I'm going in, cover me," Ryo told them. Then he casually walked to where his tiger was. "Blaze?" he asked cautiously.

The tiger did not stir. Ryo reached out with a hand to stroke the tiger. Suddenly, with lighting fast speed, the tiger whipped around and slashed at Ryo, causing the claw marks to indent and appear on his sub-armor. Ryo back-flipped a meter away and stared at the tiger with disbelief in his eyes.

Saliva was dripping out of White Blaze's mouth and the eyes that were once brown, now held a bright yellow glow to them. Fangs also grew long and protruded out of the mouth, giving the tiger a look of a saber-toothed tiger.

The animal that was once tiger attacked with no mercy. Ryo rolled, ducked, did everything he could to avoid the oncoming onslaught. Suddenly, something hard batted away the ferocious animal, sending it flying in the air.

"Kento! What did you do that for?!" Ryo exclaimed."

"I just saved you life," he said, looking at the animal, who landed on all four paws with unusual grace. The once normal tiger was now staring intently at the group in armor, save Ryo, who was still in sub-armor, looking as if which one he should try to mutilate.

"Yea, but…" Ryo sputtered.

"Look, Ryo, he's not White Blaze anymore," Sage said, "he's being controlled by that sorceress."

"But that doesn't mean we have to kill him," Ryo protested.

"We know, but if there is no way to free him from the control, we will have to," Rowen told him.

"Okay, just try to injure him enough so maybe the sorceress will leave him," Ryo reluctantly agreed. "Armor of Wildfire!" he cried out, summoning the legendary armor.

"Let him go, Phoenix!" Ryo called out into the air.

"Wildfire, don't you ever learn? I control everything," the voice of the sorceress rang throughout the air.

"Where are you?! Show yourself!" Rowen cried out.

Phoenix shimmered and appeared beside White Blaze, dressed in a golden gown with her waist length hair free. Her eyes held an amount of joy in them seeing the Ronins' reluctance in attacking their tiger friend. "So, do you like my trick?" she asked them.

"No," Sage said and charged at the sorceress. The others followed suit, their battle cries filling the chilly air.

Phoenix stood there, smiling. A gust of wind blew her hair across her face, giving her a mysterious look and an advantage. Using her hands, she manipulated the wind to blow fiercely at the Ronins, causing them to stumble. White Blaze also used the distraction to leap upon Ryo, who was knocked to the ground.

Rowen countered the wind-magic with a gust from his own element. Sage and Kento were desperately trying to get White Blaze off Ryo with out hurting the tiger. The succeeded in only driving the tiger away back to where the sorceress stood.

"Why don't you just kill your tiger?" Phoenix suggested. "I have full control over him and you won't be able to release him."

__

Damn, if only we could summon Inferno, then we can take this bitch out for good, Ryo thought. "No, only a person with out a heart would say that."

"You're right, I don't have a heart. But I don't care," Phoenix replied at Ryo's unspoken words.

Suddenly, White Blaze attacked them, sending them scattering. He gave a low growl, eyes locked on Sage, who was using his no-datchi as a supporter, trying to get up.

"Sage, watch out, you're the target," Rowen called weakly from where he was.

"I know," he said as he eyed the bloodthirsty animal.

Suddenly there was a bright light emitting from White Blaze. The Ronins held their arms across their eyes, shielding them from the bright light.

"What's happening?!" Phoenix cried out. Two growls rang out, one low and guttural, the other alto. The light faded and two tigers, one black with dark stripes and another white with white stripes appeared. The white and black striped tiger still possessed the overgrown fangs, while the black and dark striped tiger looked normal.

"Black Blaze?!" Ryo exclaimed. White Blaze collapsed on the ground, since it was Black Blaze's spirit and psyche that had kept him alive after the encounter with Saberstryke. "White Blaze! NO!" Ryo cried.

Phoenix channeled some of her psyche into White Blaze, reviving him, but ultimately possessing him.

Black Blaze bounded over to where the Ronins were, turned and faced the sorceress and gave her a blood-curdling roar of defiance. The part of the Inferno armor that he possessed pulsated in and out, like a light going on and off. It gradually materialized to whole. Ryo cautiously got up and walked over to the black tiger. The Soul Swords of Fervor were on the tiger's back, their handles glistening and reflecting off what sun came through.

__

If the Fervor Swords weren't destroyed when I battled Mukara, that means the Inferno Armor may still exist, Ryo thought. He grabbed the swords and placed them in a "X" formation in front of his face. "Let my tiger go," he growled.

"I thought you'd like him to be alive, Wildfire," Phoenix stated.

"I rather have him dead than being possessed by a bitch like you," Ryo calmly stated.

"Fine words, Wildfire, letting your anger out, I see. You are such a brave warrior; reminds me of another warrior in another dimension," Phoenix said with mock sincerity in her voice.

"Wait, Ryo, I want to ask her something before she's eliminated," Rowen spoke up from where he was on the ground. He got up, his armor battered, but he was okay.

"What is it that you want to ask me? Where I should put your grave marker?" Phoenix said.

"Shut up. I want to know how many dimensions you've destroyed," Rowen said gruffly.

"Nine-hundred-ninety-nine-thousand-and nine-hundred-ninety-nine (999,999), she said.

"You are a cold-blooded murderer," Rowen whispered.

Suddenly Black Blaze attack the possessed White Blaze, their claws flying fiercely everywhere, their blood splattering and flying all over the place.

"I will be seeing you around," Phoenix smiled at the catfight and disappeared.

"We have to stop them!" Kento cried, stating the obvious. The Ronins approached the fight, unsure what to do. Ryo's face held a mixed emotion- one full of horror, fright, disbelief, anger, and shock.

The two tigers broke apart suddenly; both covered in blood and gashes. They collapsed on the ground, tired and nearing the end of the struggle for life. They had mutilated each other.

"White Blaze!" Ryo cried, and kneeled next to the tiger. His fangs had shrunk back to their normal size and his eyes did not hold the yellow glow of possession. White Blaze growled softly at his master and friend, as if saying his last words before leaving the world. "Don't go! You have to hold on!" Ryo cried. "Please…hold on…" he whispered as his tiger and friend slowly closed his eyes and went limp in Ryo's arms.

Another growl emitted from the dying Black Blaze, as he too was saying his last words to the Ronins. A few minutes later, he too was no more, but just a figment of what existed in the world.

***

Ryo took his Wildfire swords and stuck them to the ground. They looked over two lumps in the earth. The bodies of White Blaze and Black Blaze were now in the safe protection of the earth. Mother Nature would take its course in guiding these two to the roots. The Wildfire swords were the markers of two valiant fighters who gave their lives in saving their world. Ryo sheathed the Fervor Swords in place of the other swords.

"Goodbye, my friends."

***

"We have to evacuate the people!" an officer shouted.

"To where?" another officer shouted.

"Out to space, to the colonies, to the moon, anywhere!" a general shouted.

"Once she destroys this world, she will destroy everything in space!"

"Commander, mobilize all Mechas and see what you can do about the sorceress, we need to buy time for the evacuation. Maybe we can go to another solar system," the general said to an officer.

"Yes, sir," the commander said then left.

***

"Watch your back, Wing One," a voice blared through the helmet of the Mecha pilot.

"Copy that, Wing Three," Rogue Wing One said.

"That sorceress is trying to disable our Mechas!" a voice cried out.

"Shields to maximum," Wing One ordered.

"Already, but those things she's sending through are damn tough to absorb," Wing Six said.

"I'm going to try to get close enough to self-destruct!" Wing Five said. A Mecha with a green and yellow scheme flew towards the Phoenix who was surrounded by a soft blue haze, protecting her from the blasts of the Mechas and unforgiving, air-less space.

Phoenix stopped all attacks and awaited the green and yellow Mecha.

"Break off Wing Five! Break off! It's a trap!" Wing Ten shouted.

"Too late!" the cry of Wing Five sounded through. The bright explosion on top of the sorceress was quickly eliminated with the fire dying out without oxygen.

Phoenix didn't have any scratches on her when the explosion died out.

"Holy shit! What is she made out of? Titanium?!" the young voice of Wing Seven said over the general broadcast link.

"This is going to be the final battle of our lives," Wing Three stated with no emotions in his voice.

Sage snapped his eyes open. _What the hell was that_? he thought to himself. He had gone into meditation shortly after the sorceress had left, to see if he could track her to her next destination. Instead all he got was a vision or some kind of dream.

"Sage, we're you able to track her?" Rowen asked, noticing his friend's wide-eyed look.

Sage shook his head no and shrugged. Rowen noticed Sage's unusual behavior and asked, "What's wrong? What's the matter?"

"I had a vision or a dream of some sort… I don't know how it came to me…" Sage trailed off.

"Come on, let go talk to Ryo and Kento, maybe they can figure it out," Rowen suggested.

"Yeah, okay," Sage got up and with Rowen, they went towards Wildfire and Hardrock, sitting on some slabs of stone, discussing something.

"Hey, Ryo, Sage's up," Rowen called out.

"Any luck?" Ryo asked.

"No, but I got this weird vision or dream instead," Sage told them.

"Okay, spill it," Ryo said, and Sage and Rowen sat on the grass. Sage told them the vision/dream, leaving nothing out.

"Maybe Sorceress Phoenix sent it to you," Kento said, after Sage was done with telling.

"What gives you that idea? And why would she send it?" Sage asked.

"Yeah, I think Kento's right," Ryo said, "Phoenix has been mentioning something about Mechas in almost every battle that we've had against her. I dunno, she may have a problem. She does have an oversized ego though, probably why she sent it to Sage."

"Can you project an image of these Mechas to our minds?" Rowen asked.

"Maybe, but its going to be hard," Sage said. He closed his eyes, lowered his breathing to almost nothing and went to a deep meditative state.

Rowen and Ryo gasped as the image of a Mecha came into their minds. It looked blocky and like a robot, with red glowing eyes, except bigger and had a blue, red and gray paint job. The Mecha held an oversized weapon that looked like a semi-automatic rifle.

Sage came out of his meditative state and said, "I think that's the history or other Earth Dimension that Phoenix was talking about."

"They looked familiar," Kento said.

"You saw them before?" Ryo asked.

"Yes, many times," he answered.

***

"Sage, Rowen, Ryo, where are you guys," Kento called out weakly. He took a deep breath, the pain lancing all over his body.

__

Collapsed lung, not good, he thought. Slowly, using all his strength, he tried to get up on his knees. He screamed at the pain, his body on fire from within. Scores of bruises and cuts lined his face, making it horribly scarred. His armor was mangled, parts of it broken, ripped, and torn apart. His weapon laid broken into millions of pieces.

He had seen the white light come from within the middle of the sure-kill cloud, straight down towards him and the troops. He had tried to retaliate with his own sure-kill against the destructive energy, but it had been too much. The last thing he remembered was the screams of the people that died. Then he had woken up.

Kento looked around, allowing his neck to turn as much as it could. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the dead bodies of some of the troops and the mangled body of General Torrington. There was a dark spot of red on the pavement beside her. The blood from her body was not flowing anymore and it seemed that it had been a while since it stopped.

"Help, help me," he called out weakly toward the outside. No one answered his calls, only the silence of a dead city was his answer.

Kento dragged himself with his hands, his armor scraping along the debris-filled pavement. He had to get some where and find his friends again.

__

"Hello, my friend," an echo-like voice called out.

"Who said that," Kento said weakly, lifting his head up and looking around through bloodstained eyes.

__

"It's me, Cye," the voice said. A light-blue-sub-armored-boy appeared in front of Kento, except he wasn't in solid form.

"Cye?! But you're dead… wait, how do I know you aren't that bitch?" Kento said.

__

"Kento, it is me. The sorceress cannot appear in spirit, only the dead can. I'll summon Mia, if you want me to," his friend offered.

__

Phoenix doesn't know Mia, but it's good to have proof, Kento thought. "Yes, do that."

__

"Hello, Kento," Mia appeared and said. She was dressed in the clothing in which she wore when she met the Ronins for the first time, except she wasn't in solid form either.

Kento winced in pain and took a deep breath, which caused even more pain, but he tried to suppress it back. "So, what's the matter?" he asked.

__

"We came to take you to another world, another dimension," Cye said.

"What's going to happen to my armor, then?" Kento asked, knowing that his time had come.

__

"It will be like Cye's armor, among the winds," Mia said.

"Is it possible for Ryo to summon Inferno without me and Cye?" Kento asked.

__

"Yes, it is. Inferno is scattered among the winds, waiting to be reunited again. The shattered orb poured to the winds is scattered all over the place, so anywhere is possible to summon the Inferno Armor," Mia said.

"And my orb will be shattered?" Kento said.

__

"Yes, my friend," Cye told him.

Kento drew a ragged breath, the internal fire burning him, "Then before I go, let me tell Ryo."

__

Summon Inferno, it will work, trust me, he mentally sent, suppressing the blackness one last time, via the link through the armors.

The bright orange orb shattered, forming the kanji Justice.

***

"What do you mean, you saw the Mecha's before?" Ryo demanded, eyeing Kento.

"I told you, I saw them before," he simply said.

"Ryo, back away, now!" Sage shouted and pulled Rowen away from Kento, realizing what happened.

"You should listen to Sage," Kento's voice started to waver and overlap with someone else's voice. Ryo backed away, keeping a sharp eye on Kento.

"What have you done with Kento, sorceress," Sage spat at Kento, who now possessed glowing yellow eyes.

The image of Kento shattered and revealed the sorceress, laughing. "You never learn, do you, Ronins. Never trust one another," she said.

"Wait, how it that possible?" Rowen cried. "Kento was with us when she tried to turn White Blaze against us."

"My, how observant," Phoenix mocked. "Have you ever heard of cloning or duplicating your self?"

"You're saying that there's two of you?!" Ryo shouted.

"You can say that but…" she trailed off, as if thinking.

__

Summon Inferno, it will work, trust me, a psychic message came through the heads of Ryo, Rowen and Sage.

Rowen gave Sage a nod, who in turn gave Ryo a nod.

"ARMOR OF INFERNO!"

Sage and Rowen's armors split their energies and became balls of light. In the air, two other balls of energy formed, their colors light blue and orange. The balls zoomed to Ryo, who was awaiting them. He absorbed them and a golden light burst forth, creating the rebirthed Inferno Armor.

"Nice armor, looks like a mini Mecha," Phoenix sarcastically commented.

"You'll pay for every thing you destroyed," Ryo said, crossing the Fervor swords in an "X".

"Big words, but can you back them up?" Phoenix said.

"THUNDERBOLT CUT!"

"ARROW SHOCK WAVE!"

"RAGE OF INFERNO!"

All three sure-kills surged towards the sorceress. They impacted the sorceress, throwing her back towards the far side of the circle of rocks. When the smoke cleared, what they saw was the sorceress covered in burnt marks, head to toe.

"It actually worked!" Rowen cried out.

Phoenix got up from the ground; her expression on her face no longer held any amusement. Her eyes were blazing a white color and her hand crackled with energy. "You will pay for that!" she spat out.

"How do you like your own medicine back at you?" Ryo sarcastically said, preparing for another sure-kill attack.

"TORRENTIAL WAVE PLASMA!" Phoenix cried, combining the Torrent sure-kill with her own power. The blue wall of energy surrounded the Ronins, trapping them inside like a bubble, then collapsed on them.

Their screams of pain filled the air as the deadly magic ate away at their armors and to their skins.

"Attack her! She's used up some of her energy, so she's kind of weak!" Ryo cried out, trying to suppress the immense pain of acid-magic burning through to the skin and beyond.

"ARROW SHOCK WAVE!" Rowen shouted.

"THUNDERBOLT CUT!" Sage shouted and spilt his energy towards healing himself and his friends and to the sure-kill. After letting loose the sure-kill, he collapsed, his armor pulsating a faint green.

"RAGE OF INFERNO!" Ryo cried, letting loose the volley of fire and combining with the two other sure-kills.

"MASTER!" Phoenix cried as the sure-kill impacted her.

When the sure-kills evaporated, the sorceress wasn't there anymore.

"Did we kill her?" Rowen asked, wincing as the pain shot through his whole body, when he tried to move.

"I don't know," Ryo said, using both swords to help him stand up.

"Sage!" Rowen cried and rushed to his friend, who laid motionless on the grass, ignoring the pain that went with the running. "Sage! Are you all right?" Rowen asked.

Sage groaned, his face bloody, making him look like the undead. Rowen and Ryo both knew they also looked very bad, but they had defeated the sorceress. Sage's eyes fluttered and opened, revealing glazed light purple eyes.

"Are you all right?" Rowen repeated his question.

"I don't have a lot of energy nor strength… plus, I think I have some internal bleeding," Sage whispered.

"Is it bad?" Ryo asked.

Sage took in a shaky breath and said, "I don't know. Did we get her?"

"Yes, we got her," Rowen mumbled, trying to ignore the thought of his best friend dying.

Sage turned his eyes towards Rowen and said, "Don't worry, Rowen, I'm going to survive, I'm not going down without a fight."

"We should relocate, we've damaged this place enough," Ryo said, trying to change the subject. Looking around, he saw many stones that were precariously put up long ago, were either broken or had fallen. There were also many burn marks along some of them, where the energies impacted.

"If we relocate, we should go to a city that's not destroyed," Rowen said.

"Where's that thing that General Torrington gave you?" Ryo asked Sage.

"Here," Sage said, pulling out the device from a fold in his armor. He then used his sword to assist him in getting up. Rowen helped him and slung one of Sage's arms over his shoulders.

Ryo took the device and fiddled with some of the buttons then peered at the words scrolling down the device. "Even though London, England has been destroyed, the military just got reports of survivors there, so we go there," he said.

Sage formed his own bubble and with Rowen helping him, he lifted to the air. Ryo reverted back to the Wildfire Armor, formed his bubble then followed his friends.

***

"So the sorceress is dead?" a burly officer said to Ryo.

"Yes, we think that," Ryo answered back.

"You _think_, you _don't_ know," a man with a colonel's rank came up to the three remaining Ronin Warriors.

"Who are you?" Rowen asked.

"Colonel Torrington, leader of this part of the re-con mission," the man said.

"Any relation to General Torrington?" Ryo asked.

"She's my sister," Colonel Torrington's flat voice rang out.

"I take it that you heard the news?" Ryo said.

"Yes, but I know all of you tried your best, but the sorceress may still be alive," he said.

"We know, but even with our armors, if she comes again, it may be our last battle. We may not survive another encounter, now that we are injured and one of us with internal bleeding. If we do not survive, you will have to hold out on your own," Ryo told the colonel.

"I know. We can only pray and hope that she won't come back," he said.

***

"Master, I need your help," Phoenix cried out weakly from where she was. She had barely escaped with her life, teleporting to a remote place on Earth.

"It seems that the protector's spirits and might has weakened you severely," her master, who had came to Earth to assist his apprentice, said.

"They think I'm dead…" she drew a shaky breath and continued, "but they will pay the ultimate price."

Her master extended a black cloaked hand and a thin stream of blue light snaked towards Phoenix. "Rest my young apprentice, we will attack and destroy this dimension together in three days."

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, the dream/vision Sage had was not from Shogo: M.A.D., nor was it from the new show on Toonami: Gundam Wing. That scenario was though up by me. I was thinking of Rogue Squadron from Star Wars. I know Kento's part about dying was complicated, but here's the excerpt from Chapter 2 that might help:

__

"Are you all right?" Ryo asked.

"Yeah, don't have broken bones, just scratches from the flying debris," Kento said.

The Kento in Stonehenge is Sorceress Phoenix in disguise. The Kento back at the outskirts of Tokyo is the real one. I mean, how could anyone survive Phoenix's attacks, by the way I'm describing them.

I'll accept flames and rants about my story. **BUT** any comments with swears is going to the trash bin… you know, feedback really helps me get the story out faster…

Chibi Shadow Chaser


	4. Default Chapter Title

Nothing Can Last Forever

Chapter 4

Note: A big thanks to everyone who commented on the story! Thanks guys, you're the people that kept me going!

RW/YST DO NOT BELONG TO ME; THEY BELONG TO NAGOYA AND SUNRISE INC.

"Sage! Answer me!" Rowen cried as his friend's eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground.

"Get a medical team here now!" Colonel Torrington yelled. A bunch of people, dressed in green suits came. They adwarkly got Sage up on to the stretcher, since his armor was still on and carried him away. Rowen started to follow the retreating form of the medical team, but was stopped by Colonel Torrington.

"Let me go, Colonel," Rowen growled, not caring about the etiquette.

"You can see him later, young man, he's going to be all right," the colonel said gently.

"Let me go," Rowen stated more forcefully.

"Colonel, I'd advise you to not get in his way; we're injured and…" Ryo trailed off.

"I understand, you may go, if that is the best. If you go to the infirmary, have the doctors check on you," Torrington said at last, seeing no other way to convince the blue-haired boy.

"Thank you," Rowen left and went towards the infirmary.

***

Phoenix uncurled herself from her fetal position. The pain and injuries had hurt so much that she had passed out as soon as her master started to heal her. Blinking her eyes to adjust her vision to the near darkness, she started to feel the hard, rocky, cold ground underneath her.

"Master?" she tentatively, said, testing her voice. It was back to normal, but her throat still tasted coppery.

"Yes, my apprentice?" her master's voice rang throughout the cave she was in.

"Is it three days yet?" she asked, trying to get up to her feet. Her clothing was now a black bodysuit, which she wore every time she summoned incredible power. When she summoned immense energy, any loose articles of clothing she was wearing would shred apart.

"Yes. Are you strong enough, Phoenix?" her master asked.

"I will not fail you, my lord," Phoenix said confidently, not wanting show that she was still kind of weak in the presence of her master.

"Do no lie to me, Phoenix," the master cautioned, "you are still not strong enough!"

"But master, I will heal, with the added power of the Torrent, it will help my magic within me to heal faster," Phoenix protested. To emphasize that, a light blue aura entwined with a golden aura surrounded the young sorceress.

"Gather your strength, we will attack in three hours," her master said.

"Thank you, my lord, its been a pleasure visiting this dimension," Phoenix continued to keep the aura around her.

***

"How's Sage?" Ryo asked his blue-haired friend. It was the first time since the initial attack by Sorceress Phoenix that the Ronin Warriors shed their sub-armors and were dressed in regular clothes. Rowen and Ryo wore what the army wore, green fatigues and black boots.

"Docs don't know if he's going to make it or not," Rowen mumbled, keeping his head down and struggling to keep tears from falling.

Ryo swallowed the lump, rising up to his throat. "Did they say anything else?"

Rowen suddenly looked up; his dark blue eyes in anguish, "Dammit! If only I had done something! If only I been able to intercept the magic going to Sage!" Ryo watched quietly as his friend vented out his anger, frustration, and anguish on a slab of rock. Other people near them watched in horror and worry, wondering if they should stop this teenager before something bad happened. Blood poured down Rowen's fists, as his knuckles impacted the concrete and the skin split opened, but he didn't even seemed to notice it.

"Rowen, calm down!" Ryo shouted at his ear, after a few minutes later. Rowen's head snapped up, the eyes ablaze with pure anger. Ryo took an involuntary step backwards.

Rowen's laugh was not of merriment, but an insane laugh. "Calm down?! Why should I? That fucking bitch killed my best friend! And you say I should calm down! What a joke!" he said.

"Sage is not dead!" Ryo shouted, knowing that Rowen wasn't the sorceress because of the aura he was emitting.

"Yes he is! We're all going to be dead, one way or the other!" Rowen hysterically said.

Ryo took two steps towards him and grabbed him by the arms and shook him violently. "Dammit! Snap out of it!" he shouted into his face. The hysterical, insane look on Rowen's face was immediately replaced by the saddened look he had earlier.

"My hands," he said, holding them up to his face, as if just noticing them running down. "What have I…what have I done?" he realized his insanity.

Ryo looked at him, watching his every move and said nothing.

***

"Should we lure the Ronins to the open and kill them one by one or just slaughter them where they are?" Phoenix asked, gazing at a viewing portal where it showed the London Base Camp, where the remaining Ronins were.

"We should go with the traditional duel of one-on-one," her master stood beside her, his black cloak making him look as if he were a spirit of the undead.

"May I ask why, my master?" Phoenix said.

"I would seem appropriate and to these warriors, they seem to deal with honor," her master said, the icy voice filling the cave.

"Then we should pick an appropriate place for this final battle," Phoenix observed the current situation the Ronins were in, now.

"I have the perfect place," her master said.

***

"Sage?" Rowen whispered as he looked over at his friend, who laid stretched on a cot. A white sheet covered him and stopped at his shoulders and light blue medical clothing peeked over the sheet. Sage's eyes were closed and Rowen could see the even rises and falls of breathing, but there was no sign of the green-white aura around him, which signified him healing.

"Are you going to be okay, Rowen?" Ryo asked quietly from behind the blue-haired boy.

Rowen swallowed a lump rising up from his throat and said, "I don't know." He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to prevent the flow of tears, threatening to spill.

"You know you can't hold the pain in forever," Ryo observed his friend.

"What about you? Don't you even care about what happened to Mia?" Rowen whispered.

The black-haired-blue-eyed boy clenched his right fist and tried to repress the surge of newfound sadness and pain. "That was different."

"Please, don't fight," Sage whispered, his eyes still closed, "we need to be strong together, not separated now."

"How are you feeling?" Ryo ask, momentarily forgetting the pain and sadness.

"Like a bullet train just ran me over," Sage joked lightly, trying to relieve some of the tension from his friends.

"Why aren't you healing yourself?" Rowen asked worried.

"Not much strength left. I'm trying to conserve in case _she_ comes back," the blonde-haired boy opened his eyes and looked at them. The light purple irises were still their color, but showed no signs of their normal look that frightened so many people.

"If she comes back, you aren't fighting. You are going to stay and heal. We'll finish her off," Rowen stated.

"Liar, you know that you won't survive another attack, if she's alive," Sage narrowed his eyes.

"Call me hopeful, but I wish Cye, Kento, White Blaze, and Mia were here," Ryo stared at the floor.

__

"We are here," an echo-like voice said.

Ryo looked around and saw no one, save the nurses and doctors running around patients, tending to them. He saw his friends do the same. "Who are you? Show yourself," he said, not too loudly for suspicion.

__

"It's me, Cye," the voice said.

__

"And Kento," another voice chimed in. Two translucent figures, one with an orange aura and one with a light blue aura, both dressed in their sub-armors appeared and stood at the foot of Sage's cot.

"I don't trust you. How should we know if you aren't that sorceress?" Rowen said, staring at the two translucent figures.

__

"Would the presence of Mia and Yuli help?" Cye asked them. They nodded yes. Two more translucent figures appeared; Mia and Yuli wearing the outfits they had on when they first met up with the Ronins, surrounded by a silvery aura.

__

"I'm all right, Ryo. Don't be sad," Mia said. Her translucent hand reached out and brushed Ryo's face. He flinched as the hand came in contact.

"I thought spirits couldn't do that," Sage said.

__

"Ryo, don't be scared," Yuli's youthful voice interrupted them.

Ryo closed his eyes shut, preventing any tears from falling. _Yuli, he left us without a word_.

"Is Sorceress Phoenix alive?" Rowen asked the figures.

__

"Yes, unfortunately, the power of Inferno, Strata, and Halo didn't kill her, but you did injure her very severely," Mia said.

"Dammit!" Ryo shouted.

"How'd you know this?" Sage asked.

__

"Er, she can't see the dead, so we spied on her," Kento told them.

"Well, time to give Colonel Torrington the news," Rowen said.

***

"And what have you to prove that the sorceress is alive?" Colonel Torrington raised his voice.

"Our friends told us," Ryo said. He and Rowen had told Sage to stay in the infirmary to recover more while they told the colonel the bad news.

"I thought your friends were dead." The colonel's words made Ryo and Rowen wince.

"They are, and so will the rest of you," Phoenix's voice said from behind them. Torrington pulled out his gun pointed it at the sorceress. Other troops surrounded her, weapons pointed and armed.

She laughed and said, "You needn't your weapons, I'm just here to make an offer to the warriors who have fought bravely."

"What do you want?" Ryo said brusquely, his eyes becoming blue slits as his sub-armor appeared on him;, as did Rowen's sub-armor.

"My master and I offer you a duel," Phoenix said.

"Tell your master to go stick his nose somewhere else!" Rowen countered.

"If you win, we won't destroy your dimension, but if you lose, well, you get the picture," Phoenix continued, not paying attention to the interruption.

"Accepted," Ryo said. Rowen shot a look of disbelief at his friend, but he ignored it. _It's payback time and this time, we're not going to lose_, Ryo thought.

"Are you nuts?!" Colonel Torrington shouted.

"That fast, Wildfire? You must be in a hurry to die," Phoenix laughed.

"Where do I meet you?" Ryo asked, ignoring the protests of the people surrounding them.

"Outer space," she said.

"Then I'm coming with you," Rowen said, giving his friend a knowing look.

***

"Sage is not going with us," Ryo said to Colonel Torrington after the sorceress had disappeared.

"Why?" Torrington asked.

"With Rowen's enhanced powers by space, since his element is Strata, when we summon Inferno, we won't need the added power of Halo," Ryo explained.

"Good luck and Godspeed," Colonel Torrington said, then stepped back to allow the boys to transform into full armor. He shielded his eyes as the bright light came.

"Armor of Wildfire!"

"Armor of Strata!"

The two Ronins formed their spheres and shot to the sky, bound for space, where they would meet their destiny.

***

__

Space, it's incredibly quiet and peaceful, Rowen thought as they hovered millions of miles above the earth, looking for Phoenix and her master.

__

So glad that you can come, protectors of Earth, a female voice rang inside of their heads. Both of them whirled around and saw Phoenix, incased in her own sphere, hovering a few meters away from them.

"Now we end this," Ryo said, bring the Fervor Swords up, readying for his sure kill.

***

"They WHAT!" Sage shouted.

"Yes, they went to face that damn sorceress," Colonel Torrington emotionlessly said.

"Why the hell didn't you stop them?!" Sage threw off the coverings on his cot and jumped out. His legs, weak, couldn't support him, and he collapsed.

"You should rest boy!" Torrington helped him up and supported him.

"Let me go, they need my help!" Sage angrily said, pushing Colonel Torrington to the side and trying to stand on wobbly legs by himself.

"You aren't even strong to fight!" Torrington protested.

"In war, you learn to make sacrifices," Sage said as his sub-armor appeared on him. Immediately a green glow encased him and healed him more.

Sage took a deep breath and said, "When we got our armor the first time, we didn't know what we were doing. We were making sacrifices along the way, but we didn't know that. When Talpa invaded our world, it was a battle and a war that we would never forget. Close friends of ours died in that epic battle and we remember them to this day. But we only thought that the battles could only be effective on us, not the real world. It was then when the second time Talpa came back, he breached the shield and almost took over the real world. But as everyone says, we defeated Talpa. We never knew that we were this close to losing the city. This close. Little did we know that after the battle against Talpa, the forces of evil would touch the real world again. This time, there is no mercy, no almost, no hope, for every life on this planet will be affected by the darkness. Because our time of passing is near, and there is no one to stop it once we enter the event horizon."

Colonel Torrington just stared at the bearer of the Halo Armor, appalled at what he just said.

"Remember my words, Colonel Torrington, because we will not survive, just like light cannot survive a black hole's grip," Sage said and left.

***

Ryo! Watch your back! Rowen cried through the psychic link they had on their armors. Ryo turned his head around and saw the sorceress coming straight towards him. Willing his sphere to take him out of harm's way, he barely evaded the incoming assault. He slashed at the sorceress with his swords, missing her. Rowen launched a flurry of arrows at the sorceress, which bounced off her sphere.

__

Have a taste of your own medicine, Phoenix communicated to them, through telepathy. Inside of her bubble, she built up a plasma ball and launched it at Rowen. It impacted the bubble but didn't go through.

__

Why didn't you tell me? Sage's voice shouted inside of Ryo and Rowen's heads.

__

Sage! Get away! Ryo sent though the link towards the green sphere approaching them.

__

Stop babying me, Ryo! You need help and I'll give you help, Sage said and continued the approach.

Phoenix suddenly turned around, stopping all assaults on Rowen and Ryo and faced Sage. _Target acquired_, she sent though a general wide telepathic broadcast. Deadly energy emitted from her fingertips and went straight for Sage.

"SAGE! NO!" Rowen screamed, his voice bouncing within the sphere. Using all his will, he shot towards Sage, determined to intercept the barrage of magic-missiles coming towards his friend.

Everything seemed to happen in slow-mo. for Sage. He saw the magic-missiles coming towards him, but his energy was near depletion and he couldn't get away. Then he saw a dark blue streak headed straight for him, trying to intercept the magic. "ROWEN!" he screamed as he saw his friend intercept the magic that penetrated his sphere and into his armor. The force of the impact sent Strata backwards, slamming into Sage. He saw little droplets of blood floating around him as he grabbed Rowen and willed himself to stop the backward motion. Sage's sphere expanded to cover Rowen. "No……no…it's not true…" he whispered, his tears falling down; dripping off his armor and to Rowen's lifeless body. "Why? Why did you have to? Why did you do this?" he mumbled to Rowen, seeking answers that he knew that wouldn't come.

__

Such a pity, Halo that your friend has died instead of you, Phoenix's mocking voice came through his head. Sage looked up at Phoenix who was several meters away from him. His eyes held the burning anger for revenge and the glint of a madman. The sphere and armor began to pulsate green, as he became a glowing ball of green light, full of energy, full of hatred for the sorceress.

__

Stop! Your friend Wildfire will die, a dark voice entered Sage's head.

__

Don't listen to Phoenix's master, do it! Ryo's voice shouted through. Sage continued to pulsate green. He felt the life of Ryo slip away as he saw, with his mind's eye, a dark entity wrapping itself around Ryo and draining the life force from him.

__

I will avenge you, my friends, Sage thought. He surged towards Phoenix, becoming a green meteor, the last hope for mankind, the only one to not have entered the event horizon.

Author's Notes: There are two endings to this story. Choose the one you like most, or you can read both. One is happy with a twist and another one is the non-happy ending with an epilogue. **ONLY** this chapter will I **ACCEPT SWEARS** in the flames and comments.

Chibi Shadow Chaser


	5. Default Chapter Title

Nothing Can Last Forever

Ending 1 & Epilogue

Note: This was the original ending I planned for this story…

RW/YST DOES NOT BELONG TO ME; THEY BELONG TO THEIR CREATORS.

The green meteor impacted into Phoenix, sending her into her master's black form. She absorbed the power; her eyes glowing a bright blue and lightening snapped from her fingers to the green meteor still attached to her.

Sage screamed, in pain, in fury, in desperate hope that some savior would help him. He buried his sword into the sphere surrounding Phoenix, penetrating it. _Armor of Halo; lend me all of your power to destroy this demon_ he communicated to his armor. Green light poured into the hole made by the no-datchi and surrounded the sorceress. He was suddenly violently pushed away. Sage didn't bother to will him self to stop, because he didn't have any strength left. Instead all he could do was watch the green light fight with Phoenix. He knew he had passed the event horizon once in contact with the sorceress.

Suddenly, the Earth exploded chunks of it blowing out into space, fragments of burning iron flying everywhere. The shock wave from the explosion evaporated everything in its path, leaving nothing behind. Sage didn't see the sorceress anymore, his eyes just fixed ahead, watching as the shock wave headed straight towards him. He accepted the pain and death awaiting him.

__

And there is no one to stop it once we enter the event horizon.

***

Epilogue:

"Where am I?" Sage asked. Looking around, he saw the surroundings of purple, blue, black, and red.

"Welcome to the Prisoners Area," he heard a sarcastic voice say.

Sage whirled around, feeling his sub-armor on him and nothing in pain. _What the hell happened?_ he thought. He saw a man with black-brown hair and dressed a uniform that sported red, blue, and gray. "Who are you?" Sage asked the stranger.

"Me? You can call me Sanjuro Makabe," the man said, offering a hand to Sage. He shook it.

"This must be a dream, because I'm supposed to be dead," Sage said.

"You were, but she made us heal you," another voice said. This time, Sage saw a teenager about the same age as he was, dressed in a teal spacesuit.

"Who's _she_?" Sage asked, afraid of the answer.

"Sorceress Phoenix," the teal spacesuited person said.

"So what's your name?" Sage asked.

"My name is Quatre Raberba Winner," the spacesuited person introduced himself.

"Why? I don't like to be alive when my friends are dead," Sage said.

"Nether do we, but we have no choice. It seems that Phoenix likes to keep specimens around as trophies to what she has destroyed," a female voice said, joining the group.

"That's Sally Po," the teenager, Quatre, said. "She's from my dimension."

"I'm Sage Date," Sage introduced himself, feeling the trust from them. "Are there more people from other dimensions?"

"Yes, some other people and I who survived Phoenix are from Earth," Quatre told him.

"I thought Phoenix only destroyed one Earth dimension so far," Sage stated.

"She can duplicate her self and go anywhere to any place she wants," a person said from behind Sage.

"We're just waiting for the right time to attack and destroy her in her own dimension," another said. Lots of people from destroyed dimensions were starting to appear.

"Then maybe the right time is now," Sage offered.

__

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.

I have been one acquainted with the night.

-Excerpt from the poem: Acquainted with the Night; by: Robert Frost

Author's Note: And so begins the revenge on Sorceress Phoenix. This crossover will be put off until later, so don't expect anything yet. Well, Gundam Wing is my next project, so look for it at FF.net.

Chibi Shadow Chaser


	6. Default Chapter Title

Nothing Can Last Forever

Ending 2

Note: This ending is happy, depends on how you view it and has a twist.

RW/YST DO NOT BELONG TO ME; THEY BELONG TO THEIR CREATORS.

Sage snapped opened his eyes, and saw the surroundings of a forest rush up at him. _Where am I_? he wondered. Then it all came back to him. "I'm alive!" he shouted, causing birds to fly up into the sky in fear. He quickly got up, brushed the dirt and grasses off his jeans and walked quickly out of the forest.

__

That has got to be the weirdest dream I had while meditating, he commented to himself. It had all seemed too real to be a dream. He spotted his friends, in the front yard, playing soccer. He ran up to Rowen and gave him a bear hug. "You're alive!"

"Are you okay, Sage?" Rowen asked, looking at his best friend quizzically after being released. Sage ignored him and gave Ryo backslaps, Kento a pounding, Cye a high-five, and Mia a smile, all the while, continuing to shout exclamations of them being alive.

"Uh, of course we're alive!" Kento said.

"I had the weirdest dream when I meditated just now," Sage told them excitedly, not acting like his normal self.

"Then tell us about it," Ryo said, unsure what to do with Sage suddenly hyperactive.

Suddenly, all the Ronins and Mia, save Sage, started to fade. "What's happening to you?!" Sage cried out.

"I don't know!" he heard Rowen cry. Pretty soon dark clouds covered the sunlight and the rain began to pour down. _What the hell is happening_, Sage thought, unsure what to do.

A voice suddenly cut in, over the sound of rain saying, "Remember, nothing can last forever, Halo."

Author's Notes: Not much to say, except that this twist ending was thought up by Shadow Chaser…so thanks to her! Watch for my next Sorceress Phoenix project for Gundam Wing on FF.net!

Chibi Shadow Chaser


End file.
